The association between fertility status and women's sexual esteem: a methodological and analytical study

Purpose: The present study aims to test the reliability and validity of the Turkish Sexual Esteem subscale of Multidimensional Sexuality Questionnaire in men and women and to examine the association of fertility and sexual esteem in Turkish women. Material and Methods: The full sample was utilized for the psychometric validation, that was the construct validity and the reliability of the Turkish Sexual Esteem subscale of the Multidimensional Sexuality Questionnaire, consisting of 335 individuals. A subsample consisting of 214 fertile and infertile Turkish women, was used for the analytical study. Data were collected by an online questionnaire. We performed descriptive statistics on both samples; confirmatory factor analysis was applied to test the psychometric properties of the Sexual Esteem Subscale, while the associations in fertile and infertile women were evaluated by means of linear regression analysis. Results: The reliability was supported by significant factor loadings and several goodness-of-fit indices. However, the construct (content) validity might be limited. It seems that the items included in the MSQ Sexual Esteem subscale are too narrowly worded. When comparing sexual esteem in infertile women with fertile women, we found that infertile women had higher sexual esteem than fertile women. Conclusion: The Turkish version of the Sexual Esteem subscale is scarcely valid and highly reliable in the Turkish population. The association between fertility and sexual esteem needs to be further investigated in larger samples and in different settings